


Twisted

by Shaladaze



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Mind Control, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tadashi isn’t dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-08-03 21:45:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16333805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaladaze/pseuds/Shaladaze
Summary: What if Honey Lemon hadn't made it in time to put Baymax's original chip back in? What if Hiro had been ok with that? What if they had found Tadashi but he was in a coma?





	1. Chapter 1

When Hiro saw who was really behind the mask, he was shocked, why was Callahan here? But he was dead. He can't be here, if he is here, why isn't Tadashi here?

The rest went by in a blur; all he could think about was his brother, his dear beloved and dead brother.

He barely registered ripping out Baymax's health card before looking at Callahan. He made his decision.

"Destroy. Destroy him Baymax!"

And as Baymax attacked Callahan, Hiro couldn't find it in himself to care about what happened. His friends tried to stop Baymax as he chased the man, but all their effort was in vain. They were too late, the shot had fired and Callahan was dead.

His friends were devastated, they tried to talk to Hiro but he didn't listen. Instead he made a plan to get them on his side. What Callahan did would never be repeated.

"Baymax," they would help him with or without their consent, "Put them to sleep." With the order and fear in their eyes, they ran.

Honey Lemon ran only a short distance before yelling, “Hiro! Please, stop! You can’t do this!” But Hiro ignored her plea.

Gogo zipped by and pulled her out of the way before Baymax could catch up. “Hiro, get your head on straight! We’re your friends.”

Wasabi who was still recovering from the whole situation, ran straight for Hiro, “You have to stop Baymax! We can talk about this.”

“Yeah, little dude! Just let us talk to you.” Fred had jumped onto the platform above them to stay out of the way.

Why don’t they understand that it was all Callahan’s fault that Tadashi is dead? Why don’t they get it? It’s Callahan’s fault. He didn’t even say he was sorry. He said it was TADASHI’S mistake! That it was TADASHI who made the bad decision by trying to save him! THAT IS WAS ALL TADASHI’S FAULT THAT HE WAS DEAD!

Hiro felt a hand on his shoulder, “Hiro, please. We can talk about this, we can help you. We’re your friends Hiro and we will do everything in our power to help you.” Wasabi used a soft voice as to not provoke the child any further.

“I know you will Wasabi. I know all of you will help me.” Hiro looked to the ground wishing they could just understand the pain he felt.

Gogo set Honey down next to Hiro before rolling off to keep Baymax busy.

“Hiro, let us help you!” Honey took off her helmet and set in on the ground before going over to the saddened boy. “Please, Hiro. Tadashi would want us to help you.”

And that was it, the click in his mind telling him that they knew nothing about him. They didn’t know just how much this was hurting him. These people were Tadashi’s friends not his.

“You’re right…” Hiro didn’t want to hurt them, but it was the only way, “Baymax! Stop.”

The robot’s movements halted before coming to stand near him, Fred and Gogo joining them as well.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Hiro kept his head low as he spoke.

Honey hugged him, “It’s ok Hiro, we’ll help you. We’ll make sure that everything is ok.”

Hiro accepted the hug hoping that it wouldn’t be his last one as all of his teammates hugged him.

“Baymax,” Once Hiro was sure he had everyone’s attention he spoke, “Gas them.”

The effect was instant, everyone gasped as the robot took no time to process his words, sleeping gas filling the air around them.

“Hiro!” Gogo panicked as she caught Honey Lemon from hitting the floor too hard, Fred doing the same for Wasabi.

“Right, I forgot you two have your heads covered.” Hiro walked over to where the mask had fallen.

“Hiro! You can’t do this! Tadashi-“ Hiro quickly cut her off.

“Tadashi should not be an automatic default when you’re talking to me; even you know that’s a low blow.”

Gogo closed her mouth setting down Honey Lemon before standing. “I won’t let you do this Hiro.”

Fred put Wasabi down getting ready to jump, though he looked much more hesitant “What she said.”

Hiro bent to grab the mask but not before one of Gogo’s disks hit it out of the way.

“Baymax. Stop them!” Hiro chased the mask while Fred charged the robot.

“Hiro! Stop!” Gogo took Baymax’s slow movement to her advantage and sped past Hiro for the mask. “After everything we did you’re going to throw it away?”

Hiro was not by any means as fast as the teenager, but he thought a lot quicker. “I’m not throwing anything away! I’m changing everything!”

Gogo snagged the mask from the ground before zooming off, “You can’t change the past Hiro!”

“No,” Hiro ran to Honey Lemon and used the table to make a few orbs, “but I can shape the future.”

Fred was easily tossed to the ground again by the large robot, “Ugh, why is this thing so strong?”

He was lifted by the foot into the air as Baymax looked to Hiro. “What would you like me to do now?”

Hiro glanced at the robot and Fred’s only slightly struggling form, “Put him to sleep with the gas, but don’t hurt him.”

Baymax nodded as Fred’s costume head fell off and gently pressed a mask to his face so he would sleep. Fred went limp quickly and only then did Baymax set him down on the ground to rest.

Hiro turned his attention to the speeding female, “ Gogo, please, you know I would never hurt you. I just want to talk to you.”

Gogo stopped a good distance away, “Why should I listen to you? You already hurt them.”

Hiro shook his head “I didn’t hurt them, they are just asleep. You don’t even know what I was going to do…”

“Then tell me!” Gogo was guarded, she knew something was wrong with their conversation but couldn’t put a finger on it.

Hiro took off his own helmet trying to show he wasn’t a threat, “I don’t plan on hurting anyone. I just want to make it so others won’t end up like my… like my brother.” The stutter wasn’t planned and he would take it to his grave before admitting it.

“How?” She didn’t believe him and rightly so, her friends were all passed out on the floor.

Hiro kept the orbs behind his Helmet, he only had 2 so they had to count, “I’m going to use my Microbots to get everyone home first. Then I’m going to come up with a way to save people. Please Gogo, I need your help.”

Gogo held the mask behind her a little, “If you wanted our help you wouldn’t have put them to sleep and then attacked.”

Hiro held his helmet closer to himself, “I’m sorry, ok? I panicked. I just found out that my brother died for nothing, that the man he was going to save didn’t care. My invention has been used to hurt, when that was never what they were for.” Crap now he’s on the verge of tears, this wasn’t how this talk was supposed to go, “Please, Gogo. I can’t do this alone.”

Gogo watched for a moment as tears slipped down the child’s face. He was only 14 and here he was, confused, lost and in need of a friend. The speedster sighed before slowly making her way over to the now crying boy.

“I can’t do this alone.” Hiro whispered to himself while hugging his helmet. He had long forgotten about the orbs which were now freezing his hands, he had long forgotten that Gogo was watching. He could only think about the depression sinking it’s deep fangs into his mind.

Gogo placed a hand on Hiro’s shoulder, “Hiro, it’s ok. We can help you. I can help you.” She spoke softly trying hard to comfort him.

Hiro was pulled from his own thoughts by her sweet words, he really would regret doing this to them, “I know Gogo.” And he dropped the orbs on the floor.

In an instant both of them were frozen to the floor, unable to move. Hiro dropped his helmet and hugged Gogo with their close proximity.

With her gasp he spoke, “I’m sorry! I really am!” then he reached up and took her helmet. “Baymax put her to sleep.”

She struggled, to say the least but with both of her feet stuck and the fast approaching robot she had nowhere to go.

“Hiro, please. We can still change things, we can keep people safe, we can help everyone. Not just you. Please Hiro. Don’t do this.”

Hiro listened to her pleas as Baymax got closer and place the mask on her face gently even as she struggled to get away. She fell limp and Hiro was quick to catch her before she broke her ankle.

"Alright, Baymax, let's take them back home. I will tell Aunt Cass there was an accident and they need to stay with us for a bit. Help me melt this ice." It took Baymax a good 20 minutes to melt all of the ice before they could get everyone together for the ride home.

“It would be easier if I used the microbots…” a heavy sigh left his lips as he picked up the mask. It had caused him so much pain and problems, but he could fix everything with these. No one will have to go through what he did.

Hiro glared at the mask before making a decision and pulled at the mask to try and get it off of the band. It was stuck on pretty well, but with a few more tugs the mask was dropped onto the floor with a loud clatter.

“Right, let’s go home.” Hiro climbed onto Baymax’s back and slipped the band over his head, “We will come back later.” At his thought Microbots gathered under his friends and picked them all up before the bots attached themselves to Baymax. It helped that they had mag-capability.

The flight home was silent aside from the gentle breeze and the sound of the jets going into a higher setting to accommodate the extra weight. The last hour kept replaying in the child’s head as he remembered his friend’s cries. He knew they would help him, with his new idea they would do anything for him. He just hoped that it wouldn’t cause some underlying issues later.

The landing was rough but Hiro didn’t care. He had the Microbots put his friends down before having them all move to blend in with the alleyway next to the house. Then put his act into action.

"Aunt Cass!" Hiro yelled running into the garage.

"Hiro? What's wrong? Are you-? OH MY GOSH!" She ran down stairs only to see his friends all passed out on the ground. "What happened? Are you ok?"

"We were attacked, there was an accident and- I couldn’t help them! I didn’t know what to do! I’m sorry, they…" Hiro broke off looking at his friends.

"Let's get them to some beds and somewhere comfortable." She moved quickly to help Baymax and Hiro move his friends.

She fell for the just like he knew she would. He was almost mad at how he was taking advantage of that fact. Now all he had to do was make the bands, it was easy to design and the overall idea wasn't too hard. It was the programming that really got to him, a program to override the brain's processing, a way to make them think the way he wanted them to think. It was similar to his Microbots, but more complex, less of a control and more of something that could move them. A mind control device that wouldn’t destroy the brain.

3 weeks, it took 3 weeks before Hiro was even willing to play with the idea of testing it. And in that time Hiro got his friends home with the help of Aunt Cass and their families before they could wake up. They had been constantly calling, texting and even coming to his house to talk to him. He knew they didn’t tell anyone what had happened because Aunt Cass would sometimes send them away and no cops ever showed up. But at this point they were giving him such a headache he WISHED they had told the cops.

Hiro gazed at his new creation and sighed, his friends had just left his home due to Aunt Cass’s promptings. He was more than tired but he wanted to try this out. He had studied the brain endlessly to find the right algorithms and even then he could only get so far without testing it.

Who better to test it out then on Aunt Cass, she would love to help him and if something went wrong he had Baymax’s chip out and ready.

"Hey, Aunt Cass…" Hiro asked from the door to the kitchen.

"Hiro? Oh! You came out of the garage, do you need something? How are you feeling?" Aunt Cass was making dinner.

"I made you a gift!" He presented the headband to her, pointedly ignoring her questions. It was a beautiful shade of purple with a small flower on it. "The flower is a real one, and it won't wither because it's covered in wax."

"Oh! Thank you honey! That's so thoughtful." She took it with a smile, seeming a little put off by his mood, before putting it on, it looked nice on her.

Hiro smiled as she hugged him before pushing a button in his pocket. The smallest of sounds was made signaling it had turned on, he only heard it because she was hugging him.

Hiro waited a moment before speaking "Hey, Aunt Cass, will you give me that flower pot?"

Aunt Cass let go of Hiro and walked to the table, she picked up the pot before coming back to smile at Hiro.

“Here you go kid!” She held it out for him to take.

“Thank you.” He took the pot and stared at his Aunt as he pressed the button again.

Light seems to spring into her eyes as well as the confusion, Hiro was sure that the light in his own eyes dimmed a little when he watched.

“When did you grab the flower pot?” She stood with her hands on her hips.

“Oh! Uh, just testing something! Thank you, for helping me Aunt Cass! I love you! I’m going to call my friends, I think I’m ready to talk to them again.” He knew he was rambling, but if he talked enough she would forget her question.

“Oh, ok! I’ll make some snacks then!” She turned back to the stove as Hiro set down the flower pot and left the room in a hurry.

She didn’t remember what had happened, even after he pressed the button. Hiro stopped at the bottom of the stairs taking a moment to think. He would need to do some more research on that but for now he would see it as a gift.

Walking into the garage turned lab, Hiro glanced around at all of the machinery and graphs he had up. “I should probably move everything to my room or something…”

Shrugging he pulled out his phone and made a group call to his ‘friends’, mentally preparing for the tirade that was sure to erupt from his phone.

1 ring, 2 rings, 3 ri- “HIRO!!” came Honey’s shout from the other end.

3 more voices joined in shortly after, “Hiro! Are you ok?” “What happened?” “Why wouldn’t you talk to us?” anything after that turned into noisy mush that he couldn’t understand, and it took him a few minutes of shouting to get them to listen to him.

“Guys! I’m here ok? Calm down or I’m going to hang up on you!” He waited as they settled down.

Taking a deep breath, he continued, “Look, I know I messed up. I’ve been thinking really long and hard about what happened. Gogo, what I did wasn’t cool. I’m sorry, I’m sorry I betrayed all of your trust….” He didn’t know when the tears had started to fall, but he didn’t care, “Can… would you guys come over…? I… want to talk to you in person.”

The first one to speak wasn’t who he thought would say something, “We will meet up at your house, kid. Try not to cry too hard ok?”

Said child swallowed hard,“…Ok, I’m sorry Gogo, I-“

“Drop it kid. It’s fine; I understand why you were upset. I know you are sorry. So calm down, take a deep breath and open the front door. It’s cold out here.” She didn’t sound upset and that made him want to regret his intentions of calling them.

“Ok…” He hung up before walking to the front door and opening it. There they all were waiting, and smiling at him like he did nothing wrong.

Honey moved first, “Oh Hiro!” gripping him in a huge hug before the others could even breathe.

Hiro stayed silent as they initiated a group hug. Gogo side hugged him until Fred forced her into a tighter hug that Wasabi was more than willing to add in on. They were all so genuine, they seemed to care so much, but they didn’t really care. If they did, they would help him fight. With that in mind, he was more than willing to use the bands he had made for them.

“Guys, I wanted to show you something, I’ve been working on it while I was thinking and… I think you will like it!” Hiro smiled and pulled away from the hug to look at the college students.

“Lead the way little man!” Fred pumped his fist in the air with a loud whoop.

With a nod from the others, he walked down the hall toward the garage. He went to open the door before remembering he hadn’t moved his plans yet.

“Oh! Actually, I just remembered that Aunt Cass made snacks! Why don’t we go eat those before going into my makeshift lab? I don’t want food in here.” The understanding looks of his friends was the only relief of his small mistake, they would understand because they didn’t have food around their labs either. Fred didn’t count.

Fred was already at the bottom of the stairs by the time the word snacks was said, “Oh yeah! Food!”

“Slow down Fred you can’t eat them all!” Wasabi was hot on his tail.

Gogo and Honey had just reached the bottom of the stairs before Hiro spoke up “Hey, Honey? I have to use the bathroom; I’ll be right up when I’m done.”

A nod from her and the disappearing of their footsteps was all he had to wait for before running into his lab and hiding EVERY plan he could find. It didn’t take long but it felt like forever, and by the time he go upstairs, everyone was sitting for food.

“Hiro, your aunt's cooking is amazing. I wish my mom could cook like this!” Fred laughed while holding food in his hands.

Wasabi nodded, “I would agree with the part about the good cooking! Mmm Mmm! Does she know how to make a mean dip!”

Aunt Cass blushes from their praise “Come on guys, it’s not that good.”

The group of young adults was more than willing to prove her wrong. In the meantime Hiro was still working on a way to get them all into a headband without causing any issues. He wanted to try them out now, as soon as possible. He knew he was getting excited but he couldn’t help it.

“…ro…Hiro…?” Oh Honey was talking to him.

“Oh! Uh, yes?” He glanced up quickly while grabbing at the snack plate, apparently Aunt Cass had made mini tortilla rolls with sauce.

“I wanted to know if you were ready to talk? I know you said you were but…” She was whispering and sounded a little worried about asking.

“I’m not sure yet… I-I probably should…” Hiro fidgeted as he looked at the food.

“Take your time Hiro, we are here for you. You don’t have to feel rushed.” Honey Lemon smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Fred sprung from his spot at the table and ran over to the stairs, “OK! Now that snackage has been had! Let’s go science!”

Gogo shook her head, “Fred, that’s not how you use that word.”

Wasabi burst into laughter, “You think that will change his mind?!”

She skater sighs shaking her head again silently relenting and coming to terms with the situation. “Come on nerds, let’s find out what Hiro wanted to show us.”

Hiro smiled at the group before leading the way to his lab. He opened the door slowly and let his friends wander in before closing the door. “Welcome to my makeshift lab… again”

Everyone looked all stages of emotions, from awe to mild amusement to Wasabi’s look of confused worry. He had TONS more inventions out now laying around, half-finished projects on the tables, and plenty of blueprints scattered about, excluding the ones he hid away in the corner.

“Um, how long have you been working on some of this stuff?” Wasabi was looking at something on a table near the door with concern.

“Some of it’s a few years old, I had put most of it away to work on my other project and started pulling things out after….. So I could think.” He walked over to one of the chairs near his computer so he could sit down and watched his friends as they decided what they were going to do.

“Soooo like, I don’t need to be worried that you have been working yourself to death?” So that’s why Wasabi was making those faces.

“No! No, no, no. These are old projects I only have one new project out of all of this stuff and that’s the one I want to show you!” Hiro beamed at them as he crossed his legs on his chair.

Fred was the first to plop down on the couch that was moved in a few weeks ago, Honey sat next to him and Wasabi by her while Gogo decided to sit in the chair by Hiro.

“Alright little man! Let’s see some science!” Fred whooped with a smile on his face.

Hiro nodded as he turned around to the box by his computer, “It’s something I was working on kind of as an offhanded project. It’s a little strange but I was just pushing ideas out my ear.” He pulled out the headbands he had made, “Their kind of plain but I’m still working on them,” He gave them their color coordinated bands, “It’s like a headset! It’s bluetooth, it can connect to your phone or anything that can use bluetooth and play sound!”

Honey looked confused, “But Hiro wireless headphones already exist...”

“That’s the catch,” A grin spread across his face, “ It plays sounds directly into your ear using vibrations, see it goes behind your ear and you can still hear what’s going on around you but you can listen to music at the same time. It won’t cause harm to your eardrums either!” He smiled putting a band on his own head to show them.

Fred put his on and Honey was soon to follow, “How do they work?” Wasabi was inspecting it closely.

“Here I can show you, it might take a moment to get the signals to link to my computer but I can play some music if you want?” He looked at them with a questioning look while turning to said device, in all truth he had an idea like this before he just never made it into an actual object. Now he was using it as a cover up for the fact he was going to monitor their brains when he finally turned them on.

“OH! Can you play Panic! At the Disco; Mona Lisa?” Fred asked excitedly.

“Oh, no! We are not listening to that! You should play a Disney song.” Wasabi folded his arms making a smug look.

Gogo gave the giant a look "Um. No."

"But why not Gogo?! Disney is very popular and a new movie is supposed to be coming out soon called Frozen! It's music is beautiful!" Honey smiled ear to ear.

"You like anything Disney, Honey. Play Fall Out Boy! That's a band I can get behind." Gogo put the headband on.

Wasabi placed the band on as well folding his arms, "Yeah! Their music is good! As long as everyone agrees."

Fred gave a thumbs up while Honey looked a little disappointed before nodding "Fall Out boy is fine. Just not too loud."

Hiro opened up YouTube while speaking, “I like that band, I think it would make cool music to a movie or something,” he pressed the button in his pocket “What do you think Fred?”

A soft beeping noise filled the silence after his question as the child genius turned around, to be met with blank stares. They didn’t seem to be focused on anything but there was only one way to find out.

Hiro turned back to his computer and closed YouTube in favor of his new program that was supposed to monitor brain activity when connected to a band. Five color coded bars appeared with a steady wavelength on each. They were all in a similar state of mind rest, as Hiro has come to call it, but still so different with each person.

Giving a satisfied smile the 14 year old turned to his ‘friends’. “Ok, guys. Let’s see how this worked out, shall we? I’m still not sure what I can and can’t do but there’s nothing stopping me from finding out now.”


	2. Chapter 2

Giving a satisfied smile the 14 year old turned to his ‘friends’. “Ok, guys. Let’s see how this worked out, shall we? I’m still not sure what I can and can’t do but there’s nothing stopping me from finding out now.”

"Alright, everyone get in your armor. I put all of it in those boxes," Hiro pointed to the corner where said boxes sat. "I'm going to get mine on and check on Aunt Cass. The hanging cloth can be pulled out to form four changing rooms if you need them." With that said and making sure they are doing what he instructed. He left the lab.

20 minutes later Hiro had found out 5 things; Aunt Cass was more aware this time around, holding small conversation while cleaning up around the shop. She was still doing regular activities with no difficulty. The others were more like robots. Their brain waves had picked up a little since he last checked, and he needed a more efficient way to monitor their brain activity.

Groaning loudly, Hiro walked over to his team, all fully clothed in their brightly colored suits and sitting in various places around the room… with the blankest stares in existence, “Alright, team, I’m going to explain part of the plan to you. As soon as I get Baymax outside, all of us are going to go to the island lab again, then we are going to assess the damage that was done there and see if we can fix or salvage anything there. That will be all we can do today since I doubt any of you plan on staying out too late.”

Hiro looked at them all in turn, only now noticing that Honey Lemon had some light to her eyes again as a smile appeared on her face, “Alright, Hiro!”

Fred spoke up next from his spot on the floor, “So, what about your Aunt?”

Hiro nodded, “She’s going to stay here. I'm not going to include her in any of our plans.”

Silence followed his statement before he spoke once more, “First step of the plan: we are going to investigate that island lab and find out if it's suitable for our needs. Second: if the lab works we need to get to Callahan’s old hideout and take the equipment he used to make my microbots. After that… we’ll get there.”

The group of semi-adults nodded, but otherwise remained silent. It was strange because the headbands whereby supposed to render them zombified. It was supposed to stop short term memory so they couldn't remember what was happening now, but they should still be able to access their long term memory personality, speech, and just regular functions shouldn't be affected in the least.

"Alright, Baymax, we're leaving," the young genius walked to the side door leading to the alley way, and opened it before looking back at his frie-nope they technically weren't his friends. They were more teammates if anything, his TEAM had all moved to follow Baymax out the door still looking like a team of colorful zombies.

Hiro huffs “This is going to be a long night.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The island is dark when they arrive, the light from the shore didn't reach this far out. Finding their initial entry point had taken longer than he thought it would, the inside was just as dark as the outside.

Turning on his shoulder light, his team followed suit before walking through the dark halls in order to find the main room.  
“Guys, it's like super dark in here. What if we, ya know, get attacked by something? Not ghosts because ghosts aren't real but like, uh, spiders! Yeah those!” Wasabi whispered frantically.

“There aren't any ghosts here Wasabi. Science has proved that.” Honey Lemon spoke softly to help sooth his nerves.

“He's literally the biggest guy in our group and he's scared of ghosts. Some science nerd you are.” Gogo’s smile present in the dim light.

“I am not! I'm just… worried one of you guys will panic!” His defensive walk did little to prove his point.

Fred jumped in, “Well I think-”

Hiro ignored the rest of their conversation. It's not that they were annoying or he didn't care, he just found the room they were looking for and, frankly, was much more distracted by this room in the dark. Using his thoughts he sent his microbots to find where Callahan’s body should be last he remembered, hopefully he could move it out of the room tonight without having to go near it.

Giving his new team a command “Split up and assess the damage I'll go down the stairs so the rest of you scatter around the building. Let me know if you find something.”

They all nod and disappear into the building. Walking down the steps slowly Hiro stops at the bottom focusing on the microbots, moving them around without looking at them, eventually he figured out he had been correct about where Callahan was. Moving the bots, he used them to lift up the adult through the hole in the ceiling, he doesn't remember how it got there, it must have happened while he wasn't paying attention, but it will serve a purpose today.

By the time he was called to by the others, he had successfully moved everything outside to the roof of the building.

“Hiro? We finished most of the building!” Wasabi was calling him.

Hiro used his Micro Bots to move himself to the upper level; he would have to occupy the others before he burned the body. They might not remember anything but, they didn’t deserve that. It was his problem not theirs, funny now that he thought about it, Baymax would say it’s probably bad for his health.

When Hiro had finally made it to the control . . . area, as it wasn't really a room after the fight. Honey Lemon and Baymax were still trying to find out how much they would need to clear out from the wreckage.

“Any head way?” Hiro walked closer to them so he could help.

“Not really, it’s just a huge mess, I think most of this is from the hole in the roof, but I can’t say so for sure.” Honey Lemon spoke in a different tone than usual, she sounded tired if anything. Hiro held out his hand.

“It’s alright. Take a break for now, you can’t wear yourself out.” She took his hand and jumped down from the mess.

“Thanks, Hiro.” She always said his name so weird. Though he wasn’t sure if it was really wrong, it never bothered him but he did wonder why she said it differently.

She walked a little ways before deciding to sit down on a pile of rubble and relax. She had just gotten comfortable when Fred snuck up behind her and yelled “BOO!”

Honey Lemon jumped to her feet while Fred moved his arms around above his head. “IT’S A GHOST FROM THIS HAUNTED, ABANDONED… Uh…” He looked to Wasabi for his missing word.

“Lab.” Wasabi supplied for him.

“LAB! OOOOOOOOOOHH~” Hiro laughed as Honey Lemon smiled and pushed Fred a little.

“You’re a dork. Haha.” She sat down again and Fred flopped to join her.

“So, big shot. What now? The place is cleared out.” Gogo had moved to look at Hiro who looked at the progress Baymax was making. Now that she asked he only had a half a plan, make more microbots and upgrade all their suits.

“For now we finish moving all this,” He moved his arms in a wide sweep “and then go home. We can’t stay here yet but once we get it to a more decent looking place we can move in.”

They all nodded their heads, in a mutual agreement. He was glad that their personalities weren’t altered by the headbands like he originally thought, but he also wondered if that would create problems in the future and now that he really thought about it, would it cause them any brain damage? He would need to do some more tests later but for now, he had to make sure everything worked.


	3. Chapter 3

They had just cleared the last of the mess and Hiro was a little bummed to see the computers were smashed now. He shouldn't have been surprised with how Callahan attacked them. Luckily they didn't seem to have taken as much damage as he initially thought, they were still in one piece.

Sighing Hiro turned to his friends. "All right, we have done enough. Let's go home, it's almost morning."

The team agreed and followed Gogo to the nearest door that lead outside.

Once out Hiro used his microbots to form a boat on the water. Everyone piled in and sat in the seating seats. The youngest of them all focused his mind on how a normal speed boat works, the mechanics that go into moving it and using that information to move the microbots.

Making it to shore took longer than if they had just flown over on Baymax but that was too noticeable. Climbing out of the boat everyone made their way to Hiro’s house. Everyone moved into his garage swiftly before anyone spoke.

"Take off your suits, and change back into your other clothes." Following orders they took off their head gear first.

Fred raised his hand. "Do we take off the head bands too?"

Hiro held up his hands quickly in a stopping motion. "NO! Don't take those off." They didn't question his outburst.

Once out of their suits, and into their normal clothing, they sat down in their spots from before they left.

"Ok, here is the plan," he wanted to try something out, and had a backup plan already, just in case. "I want you to go home tonight and act like everything is normal. If anyone asks, you all came to my house and we played games. Then just before bed, lay down and take off the headband. In the morning I want you all to text me ‘Hi, Hiro, how is Baymax?’ After we talk grab the headband and put it back on."

They all seemed to understand but he really just wanted to know if he could put subconscious commands into their heads, it would really help out.

Saying goodbye as they left, Hiro ran up the stairs to find Aunt Cass. Nothing had changed really, it's like he had come home on a normal day.

"Hey Aunt Cass..." He paused.

She turned happily from where she was sitting "Hi, Hiro! I’m glad you are back safely!" She said enthusiastically.

Yup nothing had changed. He sat next to her on the couch. Time to see if a few hours changed anything.

A blink, a questioning look, a glance around "Hiro?" She looked at him.

"Thanks for letting me hang out with my friends! I know it's kinda late but they just left." He decided to play it off and act normal.

She looked confused but shrugged and sat down, "How did it go?"

The usual conversation, the usual hug, the usual good night kiss, the usual wishes of good night’s rest and the usual parting. She hadn't noticed or asked a thing. Once she was asleep he decided he would go burn Callahan's body.  
\-----  
It took 2 hours of waiting till she finally fell asleep but it was worth it. Baymax was shut off and in the corner; he didn't want anyone else there.

Slipping out the window he used his microbots to sneak back to the docks faster, 20 minute walk, 5 minute Micro Bot ride. It was amazing, going so fast with no one to stop him, Tadashi would... He would... Tadashi, the moment was ruined and he had renewed his resolve on the whole matter before him.

The dock was just as they had left it and faintly reminded him of the second time he had a run in with Callahan. Pushing the thought aside, so he didn't get mad again, he gathered his bots into a slightly smaller boat then the first time.

The island was quieter without his friends around, and in all honesty, it scared him a bit... Ok it scared him alot, but he had a job. Running to the other side of the building, he found the body and proceeded to look for wood. That was more of a mess, they were on a rock in the middle of the biggest body of water he has ever seen, and there was no wood outside... But inside...

Searching the building Hiro found a few planks of broken rotting wood and, much to his surprise, oil. Gathering them he went back to the body and buried it in the wood and dumped all the oil onto it. Now to get a spark. Since he didn't have anything, he tried using his microbots and a rock to strike the ground next to the oil. Once, twice, third strikes the charm they say, and weren't they right. The flames spread quickly consuming the pile he made.

The smell hit Hiro like Aunt Cass's spicy chicken. It was horrible, the smell of burning flesh and who knows what else was the worst. Covering his face quickly he coughed a few times backing away.

He let it burn till it puts itself out watching every moment like it was his last. He should have looked away, watching it Hiro could feel something die inside of him. Something he didn't know was there until it was gone, something he thought had died a long time ago. His love filled heart, the one thing kids had that adults didn't, that sweet innocence that older people would never taste again, that clean ignorance of life's cruelties. Gone. He felt it be snuffed out, just like the flames.


	4. Chapter 4

The following morning Hiro was awoken by his phone buzzing. Rolling over he attempted to grab it with a groan wishing that it would just be quiet for a bit longer, but instead of grabbing it he knocked it off the side stand onto the floor. Huffing and deciding he would ignore it he rolled back over covering his face. His phone stopped after about a minute and Hiro was already on his way to dreamland when it started to buzz yet again. Startled from his almost sleep, he lunged off his bed after his phone so he could silence the stupid thing.

“Hi, Hiro! How is Baymax?!” –Honey Lemon

Drowsily he typed back “Morning. Why are you awake? It’s like…” Hiro checked the time “7 in the morning. And why are you asking about Baymax?”

The reply was instant “I’m not sure but we have a lot to talk about!”

Hiro’s mind had a long start up process in the morning, especially when it’s not a planned awakening.

He started his reply “But why Baym-” He stopped short, last night he told them all to ask him how Baymax was doing when they woke up. He changed his response. “Hey, random question have you done your hair yet?”

Again, she is a fast texter “NOPE! I woke up and thought, ‘Hey! I should talk to Hiro, I wonder how Baymax is doing? And that we need to talk’ But I don’t remember what we needed to talk about.”

It had worked, at least on Honey Lemon. That was perfect news, that would be so helpful in the future but what could he possibly tell her? He hadn’t planned this far last night. Last night he was too worried about getting his friends home.

“Hey, Hiro? Can we all meet at the park later? I know none of our other friends are awake yet but we can all meet up later today!” Perfect.

“Yeah, why don’t we meet up at like 9?” It was far enough from now that he could go back to sleep for an hour, check on Aunt Cass, Shower, set up Baymax, and tell the others when they get up.

“Cool, see you then!” Great, now she won’t bother him until then. Time to sleep!

Crawling back into bed, he placed his phone next to his pillow before sleeping again.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Hiro’s phone decided it was time for Hiro to wake up, and so did his friends. Rolling over yet again, he glanced at the screen.

“Hey, Hiro how is Baymax doing?” –Gogo 

“hey hiro how is baymax doing” –Fred

“Hey, Hiro, How is Baymax doing?” –Wasabi

It worked, all of them responded with the same thing, granted they all said it differently but that was to be expected. He can’t control their personalities, though he didn’t want to, just their actions. Now that he thought about it, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. He could always make identical headbands without the chips and destroy the other ones. He hadn’t even found out if it could cause brain damage.

Picking up his phone he sent a group message, “Hey guys. We are all meeting at the park at 9. See you then?”

“Yeah! Hanging out on the town!” –Fred

“Yeah, ok. Don’t be late” –Gogo

“See you then.” –Wasabi

Hiro sat up on his bed seriously reconsidering all his actions, then he smelled smoke. Looking around in a panic he started to run down the stairs when he realized the smell was gone. Walking back up slowly, he followed the smell to his clothes from last night and glared. No, he could still turn back but he wasn’t going to. He was doing all of this for Tadashi. It was all for him. Tadashi was smart. He was going to change lives. He would have gone so far. He would have been a great man. He would have… Would. He would have done a lot of things, but thanks to Callahan, he can’t do anything now.

Wiping away the single tear that had run down his face. He got ready for their meeting today.


	5. Chapter 5

Hiro skipped steps as he went down the stairs, he needed to check on Aunt Cass and see how she was doing after everything that happened yesterday, possibly check her brain activity. She won’t remember anything and it almost made him sad to know that. NO. He can’t think like that, he can’t go back now.

“Hey, sport! How did you sleep?” Aunt Cass’s voice sounded from the kitchen.

“I slept alright actually, thanks for asking. Hey, do you… feel strange or weird? Maybe feeling some pain?” Hiro walked casually, scratching his head trying to act normal.

“No, I feel fine.” She shrugged and placed 2 plates on the table.

“Really? Because yesterday you seemed so out of it, I mean, you were all spacy when I got home.” He watched her expression closely trying to see something she couldn’t.

"Well, I don't remember much from yesterday. I only remember you giving me the headband and just after your friends came over, and after you came home. . . but it's all right kid! I hardly remember my day most of the time!” Messing up his hair as she walked back to the kitchen, he didn’t see or hear any hint of a lie in her voice.

Aunt Cass placed some waffles on the table while Hiro took his place on the other side, where he usually sat noticing some extra items on the table.

“Aunt Cass…” Hiro spoke silently.

“Yes, what’s wrong Hiro?” Aunt Cass sat down at the table with a worried look.

“Why did you set up for 3?” Hiro looked at the spot Tadashi used to sit, all set up waiting for someone to join them.

Aunt Cass looked confused for a moment before also looking at Tadashi’s place, tears brimmed in her eyes and she smiled trying to shake it off. It didn’t work and instead of saying something, she started to cry into her hands. As sad and confused as Hiro was, he understood where she was coming from. Standing from his spot he walked over to his dear Aunt and hugged her. They stayed that way for a while, hugging and crying about something that wasn’t said.

They parted and continued with breakfast leaving the set up spot untouched and left the table without another word. Hiro decided he wouldn’t use the headband that day.

Getting down stairs Hiro could feel small parts of him shattering for Aunt Cass, she felt just as much pain as he did, if not more. He had to do this; it was for all of them. He knew now what he was going to do, and how he was going to do it, maybe not in full detail, but it was closer.

Hiro’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he quickly pulled it out to read a message from his Aunt, “Have a nice day.” 

He smiled sadly “You too.”

Looking up, Hiro glanced at the red box “Ow” and out Baymax came.

“I heard the sound of distress, did someone cause you harm?” Baymax’s voice was soothing, considering his morning so far.

“Let’s get you suited up and ready.” After about 20 or so minutes of trying to get Baymax ready, Hiro packed his own in a bag and headed out the door with Baymax in toe.

The park was mostly empty save for his friends talking casually at one of the many benches around the park.

“Hey, guys!” Hiro approached them with a wave having left Baymax on standby in a nearby ally.

“Hello, Hiro!” was all the warning he got before Honey Lemon hugged him as hard as she could.

Hiro smiled when she let go, “Hey, why don’t we go to the island? We can talk more there.”

They nodded in agreement before following Hiro to where Baymax was hidden.

“Hiro, what are we going to be doing today?” A pop from behind meant Gogo had gum.

“I’ll tell you when we get there, it’s not safe to talk here.” Hiro brushed it off before climbing onto Baymax.

“Little dude, wouldn’t it be like, really obvious if we flew through the sky on a huge red robot?” Fred raised his hand.

Hiro stopped and looked at Baymax realizing he was right, “Got any other suggestions?”

Fred pulled out his phone with a smile, “I have a helicopter.”

Hiro smiled at Freds enthusiasm and nodded "Then let's go to your place and catch a ride."

Arriving at the island sometime later, Hiro told everyone to suit up after the butler left with the helicopter. Among other things he was glad that the butler didn't ask any questions but he was sure Fred had asked for weirder. They changed and walked to the room they had started on.

"Ok, here's the plan; this is going to be the main part of the base, I'm going to fix the computers in here and use them for my plan. I brought my computer so I could check everything out. Fred, I want you to go around and help Wasabi fix whatever metal beams or brick are falling apart, fix the place up. Gogo, I want you to map out the place as best you can I made a holo-screen that goes into your wristband so you can use it," Hiro hands her a small disk "Honey, you’re going to help me with the computers to see what we can hack, oh! and will you give Wasabi some of your hardening formulas just in case he needs them?"

Honey nods and presses a few buttons before handing them to Wasabi. "But Hiro..." Honey looks at him confused "What about Baymax?”

Hiro shakes his head, "Baymax is going to help Fred and Wasabi fix the ceiling. Now go."

They all split up to do their respective jobs yet again while Hiro and Honey found a place to plug in.

"Hey Honey-Lemon?" Hiro asked, a hum was all he got "I need to scan your head to see if anything is happening, is that ok?"

"Of course, Hiro!" She smiles at him.

"Thanks, hold still for a moment." He held up his hands.

Hiro then took a small device that looked like those things you would find at a check out after shopping and scans her head. He modified it so that it would scan brain waves and had put Baymax's chip inside of it to see if there were any abnormalities. It beeped twice and he plugged it into his computer.

"Nothing seems to be wrong, it does say that some of the neurotransmitters in your brain aren't responding properly and that there is something else being put in. It also states that because of this there is a higher concentration of the chemical in your brain that makes you forget everything, essentially putting your mind into a temporary coma. Interesting." Hiro studied the data closer to see if he missed something.

"Isn't a coma bad, Hiro?" Honey-Lemon looked concerned.

Hiro thought about this carefully. Yes it was a bad thing, but it would make things so much easier if he didn't have to make them do anything against their will. Yes, part of their minds aren't working so short term memory is a no go, but on the other hand they can remember things from before that. He couldn't seem to figure out if he thought it was a bad thing of not, but what if the coma becomes permanent in their heads? What if wearing the head bands too long did cause a few issues? At most he could only imagine them being examined for some minor cases of amnesia, maybe they would undergo some form of degeneration in the brain from it, but how does he fix that? He would have to rewrite the entire coding for the head bands at least 5 times before he could even get a shred closer and that's with a few tests, but his friends weren't lab rats and he wouldn't make them one.

"I don't know yet Honey." Hiro sighed sadly, he was losing his resolve again to do all of this.

"Hiro, some video footage came up." Honey's voice pulled him away from his thoughts.

"Let's see it." He moved closer to the screen again.


	6. Chapter 6

The footage wasn't new. Callaghan's daughter going into the portal, the overload, and shutting down of the program what was new was the researchers saying, "They weren't interested in the program." Callahan was trying to convince them to turn it back on and volunteering to go in and get her. Everyone refused him and he was soon hauled away by guards.

"I guess he really threw a fit didn't he?" Honey-lemon had a sad look on her face as she spoke.

Hiro nodded in response "Will you look for those schematics? I might have hated Callahan but if she is still alive, we should help her."

Honey-lemon shot from her spot to hug him "OH HIRO YOU'RE SUCH A SWEET KID!"

Hiro grunted at the impact as he leaned over to compensate for the force. "S-sure..." It was a lie, he wasn't nice, and his plan was less than legal. He was thinking too much, he had to stop.

The sound of skidding pulled him from his own musings "Mapped out the inside of the base, I put an x on the areas I couldn't reach and a B on places that were blocked" She pulled out the disk Hiro had handed her earlier and placed it in his hand, "The cameras are marked with a dot."

"Thanks Gogo, any updates that seem important?" The disk was slid into the computer as a map of the place came up on screen.

"Not yet, I found a few locked room and I could just break the doors down and go in, but I wanted to get your opinion on it." She sat down next to them.

"It might be worth looking into." Hiro pushed a few buttons and a hologram of the map showed up a little bit in front of them. True to her word Hiro counted at least 10 cameras before he wasn't sure if he was counting some of them twice, 5 locked rooms, and 3 blockades all of which were close to their current location.

"Hmmm, the blockades seem to only be that, a block, there are ways to get around them but it takes a while so I'll tell Fred and Wasabi about those... Uh... We should check the locked rooms together; we don't know what could be in there... As we find the rooms I will have Baymax check the cameras to see if they will still work or if they are putting off any kind of signal." As he spoke he spun the map around to get a better look at the place, so far it just looked vacant but he needed more eyes around the building.

"Honey-lemon, use the trackers in our suits and find out where the others are." Hiro said in a commanding tone as he stood up "I want you to monitor us visually and keep an eye on things, as the cameras are found, mark the ones that work a different color, red is 'not working' blue is 'working', understood?"

Honey-lemon nodded before typing a little at the computer as a few colored blips show up. "Alrighty! We are set and good to go!"

Hiro nodded "Alright! Fred, Gogo, you're a team, find the closest rooms that are locked and get in, Wasabi and I are going to do the same thing in the other direction, Baymax will find all the cameras and scan them keeping in contact with Honey. Now split." At his word everyone did their jobs without question. Always without question, they won't listen to anyone else but Hiro.

The first room was just a regular room, nothing interesting in it, just some scattering rats and a few desks. Wasabi walked farther into the room looking for a light as Hiro inspected the desks. Why would the door be locked if nothing was in it? What was the reason?

A light flickered on as Wasabi shouted in triumph. "WOO! I can see!" Seems he finally found the flashlight that was installed into the eyes of the costume.

Hiro laughed while opening the few drawers to find them all empty. "I don't get it, why go out of your way to lock a room if there is nothing in here?"

"Maybe there was never anything in it? You might be over analyzing things." Wasabi looked in another desk and also found nothing.

"Maybe..." Hiro stood straight before pushing a button on his helmet "Nothing in here so far, Gogo any luck?"

A small click was heard before a reply "Not so far boss, it's empty save for the few bugs."

Hiro nodded before asking "Anything of notice?"

A rustling sound before a grunt from Wasabi “Nope.”

"Alright, keep going to the other rooms and let me know if anything changes." Hiro looked to Wasabi to see him picking up a desk.

"Alright, we will go to the next room then. Come on-" She went silent then and Hiro laughed at Fred before they left the room.

"There's nothing here. I don't understand why out of all the rooms, only 5 would be locked." Hiro looked at his wrist while they walked to the next room.

Pulling up a small hologram, he phoned in with Honey.

"How far has Baymax gotten?" He watched as the white dot moved to the next smaller red dot.

"He is about half way done, the cameras seem to be in working order, but this place has no electricity save this room. So none of them are operational." She clicked a button and made another dot blue.

"Alright, keep that up while we finish the sweep." Hiro looked to the others to see they were already walking to the main room. So obedient, he didn't have to train them or anything, they just did what he wanted them to do.

Shaking his head hard he wiped away a few tears again as he felt confusion sweep over him. "We have work to do. Don't worry, Tadashi, I'll make sure no one ever has to go through what you did. Ever again."


	7. Chapter 7

You know, they say a dead man keep secrets the best. But if your friends have short term memory loss and follow every rule you give them, you’re doing better than the dead man.

It's been a week and the group finally finished cleaning the place up and after a few trips they had every part to Callahan's machines, the place looked new. Save for the lack of electricity, but that was easy to fix.

Hiro looked to his friends turned workers.

"We're done! Everything is clean and fixed!"

Honey-Lemon smiled and jumped a little while Fred danced next to her.

Gogo was smiling but still on top of her game "Now, what?"

"Now you guys take a week long break while I do some research on those headbands." He had become used to telling them everything at this point.

Wasabi raised his hand a little "So uh, are we doing that without the headband or with?"

Hiro looked at them all closely before climbing up Baymax to sit on his shoulders "Here's your order: You will all go home and take off your headbands, nothing new has happened and it's been pretty boring. I'm going on a trip for the next week, so, I won't be home. Aunt Cass will know where I went, and you can text me freely. When you get a phone call from me, put on your headbands but don't answer. Come to the docks and I will pick you up.” He waited for a nod from each of them before ordering them all to leave.

They left without another word. Hiro couldn't lie, he was getting used to them being under his control and he kind of liked it. They never did anything against him, they still acted as themselves, it was like having an obedient puppy... Or 4.

Hiro waited till they were gone before looking down at Baymax,

"Tell me when they get out of the building" his harsh tone went unnoticed.

Baymax nodded a little to signify he understood and was ready to obey orders. Baymax had a few things changed about him in this week. First, Hiro had decided to keep the health chip on his person at all times just in case something happened where they needed him. Second, his voice box was changed to a slightly deeper tone, and third, the fighting chip was in another robot.

Hiro didn't want to change too much of what Tadashi had done, so he put the original robot away without his chip and made a duplicate, only this one was just the armor exterior, no giant marshmallow was under this thing.

A voice moved his attention to the robot under him "Hiro, they have cleared the island and their signals lost."

Hiro smiled to himself "Good, good. Baymax why don't you go find the materials for solar panels, see if there are scraps around the city, but don't let anyone see you."

Baymax nodded and picked up Hiro off his shoulders before setting him down gently. "Hiro will stay here then." It sounded like a statement but the way he stood there and waited said otherwise.

"Yeah, I'm staying here to do some more research." Hiro perked a little, he was eager to find out more about the headbands.

The robot disappeared as Hiro took off his helmet. It was getting hotter in the building now that the hole was gone. He would need to fix that soon, before it got too dangerous to work and be here. They had set up a fan next to his computer but that wouldn’t fix the whole building.

Rubbing his forehead, Hiro walked over to sit on the ground by the fan to cool off a little while he worked. The computer was one Tadashi had given him on his last birthday, the card that came with it was taped to the cover in all its plain glory.

“Happy birthday Hiro! Hope this gift is enough for that big brain of yours and all its ideas! Remember to look at things from new angles. I love you! –Tadashi”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With this I am finally caught up with my Beta reader! I still have a few chapters before I am caught up with FF though.


	8. Chapter 8

A week was a lot longer than it seemed. Baymax had been gathering supplies from whatever random places he went and Hiro had gotten a bit farther in his research. So far, he has found out 4 things. First, the headbands will only cause damage with prolonged exposure at extreme intervals of brain activity. Second, the signals cannot be blocked from a long range interfering output (long being farther than 3 yards). Third, the only way to control actions by thought instead of verbal command would be to reroute the system into an electrical sound and increase the output of the overall signal into the brain which would cause more brain damage in shorter intervals, not including the amount of headache it would cause for both party's. And Fourth, he didn't do enough research on these headbands and the whole thing needs to be trashed. He haven't thought them through all the way, he wasn't messing with basic mechanics and machines, these were human beings with some of the most complex brain structure in all of the animal kingdoms. Only weeks worth of work and it showed.

Hiro groaned in frustration trying not to throw his laptop across the room. "The first ones were trash. I have to redo EVERYTHING! No, no, it's fine. Everything is fine, just look at it from a new angle."

Hiro stood after setting his laptop down and looking at the table of randomly sorted wires, metal parts, and machinery. It was a lot to work with but still not enough. The only way to stay off the grid so no one knew they were around was to keep a closed circuit. He only needed enough power to keep the whole upper level functional, which was saying something. This place was huge.

"Let's see... I have enough supplies to make at least two solar panels right now. Not enough to power the building, but enough to keep the computer running, and possibly the camera system if I'm careful." Hiro moved a few things around. "The only problem is how I'm going to hide this from above. I can hide it from ground view but not the sky.... The only thing that might work is holographic projection system but even that is sketchy and hopeful thinking at best...." Hiro scratches his head glancing at his phone; it was only Wednesday so he still had 4 days till his friends came back.

"I have retrieved more items." Hiro jumped at Baymax's arrival.

"Oh, good. Just put them on the table for now. All these spare parts will help a lot but I'm going to need more scrap metal." Hiro looked at the junk in Baymax's arms before he put it down, "This is all scraps right? I don't want to become some thief."

"Your instructions were to gather spare parts that could be made into solar panels. Are items lying around not spare parts?" Baymax started to organize the items.

"That's exactly what I want. You're good Baymax." Hiro walked back to his computer grabbing his helmet.

"Shall I continue to gather these items?" Baymax's voice sounded choppier than usual now that Hiro was listening, maybe it's getting old.

"Yes, keep getting the stuff. Remind me I need to check your voice box. Also try going to the scrap yard." Pulling out the band and turning it on, he began to move his microbots toward the table.

"Okay. What time would you like your reminder?" Baymax began walking to the door.

"Tomorrow morning. 9:00." Hiro tuned out everything else as he made the Micro Bots pick things up. "Time to see how fast I can make a solar panel." Quiet sounds of a tinkering genius ring through the room. However, across the city, in the best-known hospital in town, doctors discuss how they will continue to help the one thing that could possibly stop Hiro now.

"Doctor, I know you feel responsible for this young man, but how are we going to handle this in means of finding his family? Or even paying these bills?" A nurse whispered so others wouldn't hear.

The doctor sighed "I am well aware of what I am risking here-"

The nurse cut him off “No, I don't think you do. What happened to your son was an accident."

"I know. I know it was an accident, but I just can't let someone else go through that." The old Doctor rubbed his eyes.

"Jim. I know you miss your son, but this young man is not your son... Whatever you do, I will help however I can..." The nurse looked back at her clipboard.

"How is he holding up?" The doctor stood straight for his small stature going back to business.

The nurse smiled, "He is holding up well. His heart rate is steady, and the burns are going down nicely as well. They will scar, but if he makes it out of his coma, the only thing we would need to test is how his nerves are doing."

"Good, good. As soon as he wakes up I want an immediate phone call, I don't care who is on duty I want to know if he opens his eyes for 5 minutes, we will find out who this man is." The doctor spoke determined but quietly.

The nurse nodded "You will be the first to know Doctor. Now you have another patient waiting for you."

The doctor nodded following the nurse to another part of the hospital with a single thought 'Wake up kid, someone is waiting for you to get better I know it."


	9. Chapter 9

Cass Hamada slumped down into a chair behind the counter after a long line of customers finally finished ordering. Lunch time was particularly busy today and her employees were working like madmen in the kitchen trying to get everything made as fast as possible. She could have easily just been an office bum like most bosses she had seen on TV, but had long since made the decision to only do that when necessary.

Cass glanced around to make sure no one needed anything before standing and going into the kitchen to check on the orders. Sam was just finishing up with the third order and Hannah was taking out the second.

“How are things going Sam?” Cass walked over to make sure he heard her.

“It’s been busy, but you know that.” His smile was soft when he looked at her.

Cass smiled and laughed “Yeah, it has, you guys have been doing great. Thanks for the help.”

Hannah stuck her head in “Anytime Miss Hamada! We are here to work after all!”

Sam grabbed a cup “You make it sound like that’s the only reason we are here.”

“Come on you two, don’t argue, you’re still clocked in.” Cass moved to grab a plate for Sam.

Hannah perked up a little “Oh! Yeah hey, how is Hiro doing? I haven’t seen him down in a while; did he finally start school or something?”

Sam nodded “Yeah, I haven’t seen him in a few days.”

Cass froze a little just before touching the plate, the long silence that followed made the other two share a glace.

“Miss Hamada? Are you ok?” Hannah asked quietly.

Said woman seemed to snap out of herself and look at the other two “Yeah I’m fine, sorry.”

Sam put the last of the order on a tray, giving it to Hannah before speaking “Cass? Do you know where Hiro is?”

Hannah stalled in taking the order out waiting for an answer.

“He… he’s out with his friends…” Cass didn’t seem so sure of herself.

Sam shooed Hannah out of the room before looking Cass in the eyes “Cass. Do you KNOW where Hiro is?” It sounded more like a statement, but the more he looked into her eyes the more they seemed to cloud over.

“Cass? Are you ok?” He waved his hand in her face.

“Sam, don’t be mean,” Hannah had returned “Maybe they got into a fight.”

“Hiro is with his friends.” She was starting to sound like a robot.

“I think something is wrong with her, she doesn’t seem all here.” Sam glanced at Hannah before shaking Cass a bit.

“Is she ok? Should we call someone?” Hannah was getting worried at Miss Hamada’s lack or response.

Sam thought for a moment “Get a glass of water for her, I’ll find her a chair.” Hannah ran off to get her a glass while Sam grabbed a chair.

“What do you think is wrong? Is she having a seizure? You know those ones that are the opposite of falling on the floor and flopping like a fish?” Hannah asked from the other side of the room.

“I don’t know but she doesn’t look well.” Sam led Cass to the chair and helped her sit down slowly.

Hannah came back running “Should we call th-“

“Hannah! Don’t run in the kitchen!” Sam yelled with a hint of frustration.

Hannah yelped as she slipped on the tile, flinging the water out at both Cass and Sam, getting most of them wet before Sam could catch her to keep her from getting hurt.

“Darn it Hannah, you know the rule is no running in the kitchen!” Sam helped her stand.

“I know I was just so worried about Miss Hamada that I forgot!” Hannah sounded a little more than distressed.

“I know, we both are but please be careful.” Sam stopped moving for a moment “What’s that noise?”

Hannah listened quietly before looking at Cass “Um, Sam?”

Sam looked down at her “What?”

“Does Miss Hamada usually smoke?”

Sam gave her a strange look “No, what are you talking about?”

“Because she is smoking…” Hannah pointed at Miss Hamada

Sam turned around with a smart comment on his tongue that died soon after he got a good look behind him. Cass Hamada was indeed smoking, in the literal sense of the word. Smoke was rising from her head in small wisps before it started to spark at an alarming rate.

“What is…?” Hannah walked a little closer before Sam quickly moved her back and grabbed the oven mitts.

“Don’t,” Throwing them on quickly, Sam approached Cass slowly looking at her head, “Her headband is smoking, it probably had some kind of mechanics in it. Get the fire extinguisher.”

Hannah nodded before walking quickly to it, remembering not to run. Sam gently grabbed the headband and took it off, holding his arms as outstretch as they could be.

“Did you get it? This thing is still sizzling.”

“I got it! Put it on the ground I don’t want to spray you with it.” Hannah held up the black tube.

Sam set it down carefully on the floor before moving away quickly as Hannah sprayed the thing till it stopped smoking.

“It was such a pretty headband too…” Hannah sounded slightly sad as she went to grab the mop.

“It could have started on fire. How dangerous.” Sam looked at Cass who had started to move again.

“What in the world…?” Cass looked around before looking at the headband. “What happened?”

“Your headband started to smoke and we had to put it out. Sorry if it’s ruined.” Sam took off the oven mitts before bowing.

“It’s alright, thank you.” Cass puts a hand on her head, a look of worry on her face. “It was a gift from Hiro; I will have to tell him.”

Hannah returned with the mop and a pail, “Do you think he knew it wasn’t waterproof?”

Sam nodded, “There is a possibility of that, but it’s small. He doesn’t usually over look something like that. Especially with Cass being a cook.”

Hannah smiled, “That’s true and he is such a caring young man. I’m sure he will fix it if you want Miss Hamada…”

“I will tell him tonight at dinner, or should I text him now? Maybe call?” Cass looked worried at the idea of choosing.

“I think it would be ok to call him.” Sam helped Hannah start cleaning while Miss Cass was having a hard time deciding.

“Alright then, I will call him now.” Cass pulled out her phone before looking for Hiro’s number.

Sam finishes helping Hannah clean up before walking out to the counter to see if anyone needed anything/ What he didn’t expect was almost every eye on him as we stepped out the door. All eyes were asking one question; what was going on in back?

“Sorry!” Sam bowed, “There was a small fire in back, but everything is ok now. Everyone can go back to their seats, Hannah and I will be right with you if you need anything!”

A small woman spoke from the front “Does that include exact detail of what happened in the back?”

Sam’s eye twitched as he stood straight “Go get your gossip from somewhere else Miju. I won’t tell you a thing and neither will Hannah.”

Said female cast a glare at him “Are you still mad I cheated on you?”

Hannah stepped in right then pointing to a sign “We reserve the right not to serve a customer. So Miju, we are more than welcome to ask you to leave.”

Miju huffed before going to leave the counter and return to her seat.

“Out the door Miju, we won’t be serving you.” Hannah was being rather insistent on this.

After she left, everyone in the shop seemed to give an audible sigh of relief, before conversation resumed with normal vigor. 

Sam could hear Cass’s distant conversation and Hannah went back to work, taking Cass’s place at the register. Deciding to give Cass a moment alone he went on cleaning tables and refilling waters.

Cass called Hiro twice before leaving him a message about how she was hoping for his well being and talking about the headband before giving up. The boy was always busy these days; she just hoped he wouldn’t be bummed out about what had happened to the band.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been beta read, but I felt bad for not posting in so long.

Hiro took a few steps back as he looked at the headway he had made in the last week. Smiling to himself, he enjoyed the feeling of getting so much done before his team would be arriving tomorrow. He looked to the lights above, marveling that this lab was once fully operational. Hiro had endlessly worked on getting enough solar panels to charge two rooms, including the cameras, with enough left over for odds and ends throughout both areas (the lab and the connecting office space). The glow would stay for 24 hours even with continuing uses for multiple people. Hiro left the lab switching the lights off wanting to show his progress to his team the next morning. 

 

Walking down the now dimly lit hallway, Hiro found Baymax finishing up with the last broken camera.

 

“How’s it looking?” Hiro glanced at his phone.

 

“It is going, well. Not a lot of damage was done to the camera.” Baymax looked down to Hiro before going back to work.

 

“How much longer? We need to get home soon.” Cass had messaged him about the headband about 30 minutes ago and he was more than concerned.

 

“Not much longer. I only need to reroute the power and run a diagnostic to see if it is recording.” The large robot moved to another part of the camera.

 

“Good.” Hiro leaned on the wall as he heard the message.

 

“Hey, Hiro! Miss you kid, I feel really bad about this but the headband you gave me got water on it and broke. I’m so sorry about that honey! Please stay safe! Come home soon!”

 

Said child groaned, of all the things he forgot to make it waterproof. That means the others aren’t either! Giving a sigh, he turned to look at Baymax, “Progress report.”

 

“Doing the diagnostic now,” The red robot stood for a moment as a few clicks and whirring noises could be heard “Complete. Camera is now recording and operational.”

 

Hiro smiled “FINALLY! Now let’s get out of here. Aunt Cass wants us home and there’s nothing I can do to change that from here.” He jumped onto the robots back as is started walking to the exit.  
“We need to find a way in and out of here that will keep us from getting found out. Baymax, when we fly over this place I want a full, detailed scan on this building, including the piping and electrical systems.” Baymax nodded at Hiro’s request as he left through the main doors.  
Hiro laughed as Baymax took off into the air.

 

When they landed on the shore closest to their location Hiro hides behind a metal crate to grab his normal clothes and change, being seen with his gear on was less than ideal.

Baymax speaks to him from around the side of the crate, “I did a scan of the island and all piping, it seems there used to be a large pathway that lead back to the city. I checked multiple maps from the time the lab was built to now only to find that there is no record of them.”

Hiro smiled as he slipped his shoes on, “That's perfect! I could use that! Where does it let out in the city?”

“I am not sure yet, we haven't reached the end of the tunnel.”

The young teen steps out with his civilian clothes on and his bag full, “Darn, we’ll have to find that outlet. Better idea! Baymax you follow the tunnel and come back when you find where it leads, don't be seen, heaven knows that would cause problems. That's top priority. Go.”

The red robot disappears without another word said. Just as silently the teen wanders into the city, taking his time to get lost in the streets of Sanfran Sokyo before making it back to the bakery.

Breathing deeply to try and settle back into what he was before this whole mess, Hiro steps into the bakery.

“Welcome! Be right with you!” A disembodied voice called out from behind the counter.

“Hey Hannah!” He calls to the space.

Almost as soon as he finished, a loud whack and a startled yelp responded to him. The wonderful Hannah popped her head up to look at him, “HIRO!” He watched as she jumped over the counter and ran at him.

“Yeah, He-UGH!” He had been ready for it but it was always a shock when a blur of ginger and brown comes slamming into you only to give you the softest hug as if to apologize for the initial force.

She pulls back to hold him at arm's length, “What is wrong with you?! You disappear off the face of the planet, no phone call, not text, no message for Miss Hamada to leave for us! Then the moment you come back you decide it's a good idea to startle me half to death?”

“HAHA! Oh come on Hannah, you know I never plan to scare you anymore, all I have to do is say hi and you hurt yourself. Are you ok by the way?”

She huffs, “I'm fine thank you,” she pushes him around the counter so she can keep working and still talk “So! What has the ever wonderful genius been doing without his brown friend?”

The genius in question rolls his eyes, she stands as a proud brown ginger of 16, just 2 years older than him, and has been working in this bakery for a little over 3 months, Aunt Cass had allowed her to work here since she needed a job and she's an old friend of the family.

“You are aware that you are not the only brown person I know right?”

She gasps as if offended, “Hiro, how could you? Replacing me with someone else.”

He smiles, yes a genuine non crazy smile, “I said I had MET other brown people, that doesn't mean I replaced you. To this day you hold the title of ‘Only Brown Friend’ so don't worry about that.”

“Oh but I have to worry!” She stands holding an arm full of items “as you get older the threat of you making other brown friends is high! I must keep my title and defend my honor with everything I have.”

A snort is heard from the kitchen, “Defend your honor for what? I leave you out here alone for 5 minutes and you’re suddenly- Hiro?”

Hiro smiled at Sam, he was about the same height as Tada-... as someone else he knew, honestly the only difference between the two of them had been their hair color, platinum blonde vs dark brown/black.

“Hey Sam.”

“Wow, you've been scarce for a while now. How are you?” The taller male was trying to avoid bringing up the funeral.

“Busy, anyway! Where is Aunt Cass?” though he had a good guess.

“She is upstairs right now. We were actually about to close up shop.” Hannah gestures to the few people sitting around.

Hiro nods before walking to the stairs, “Ok, thanks. We will have to talk later.”

They both give him a thumbs up as he heads up the stairs.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been beta read, but I felt bad for not posting in so long.

Cass sat on the couch rubbing her forehead, a possible headache must be forming.

“Hey, Aunt Cass.” Hiro walks over swiftly trying to remain calm.

“Oh! Hey honey! I'm glad you made it back! I'm so sorry about the headband, I didn't even know it had any machinery in it!” She holds out the offending object to him.

Smiling he takes a look at it, yeah it was toast. “Wow, you really did a number on it huh?”

He looks to her face to see it waver a little, crap had he said something to tip her off?

She smiles again, “Sure did! I was surprised that it had any wiring in it! I didn't even notice! But what's all those wires for?”

A momentary panic started to form in his chest, he hadn't perepped a cover story, he didn't think he would need to! “Uh, it's… a prototype! I haven't finished all of the testing for it yet and I wanted to see how it would do with regular use as if it were a normal headband! You sure helped me out Aunt Cass! Did it hurt you? It looks like it burned or something!”

Speaking fast wasn't really a good idea but it might work in his favor if he could just think fast enough.

The small frown on her face made his heart drop, “No, it didn't hurt me, luckily Sam and Hannah got the fire put out before any real damage was done. They said it started to spark and lit up like a firework as soon as it got wet.”

He nods filing away the information, “I'll have to improve on that then. I can't believe I didn't think about making sure it was waterproof.”

They share a laugh at his seemingly light humor before Aunt Cass stands from the couch, “Well, I hope you're not too mad about it, I still feel awful that it broke.”

Hiro shakes his head waving it off, “No big deal. I’ll just make you another one.”

She huffs at his reply before hugging him tightly, “You’re such a sweet little kid! Teenager now.”

He is almost startled by the hug, slowly hugging her back as the words sink in. Sweet was not a word he would use to describe himself, in fact it would probably be one of the last on the list. A wave of emotions were gathering at the side of his mind, waiting to be let out but he squashed them before they could do any damage.

“I’m going to go work on another headband for you!” He pulls back, hoping it doesn't seem suspicious, “Are you taking the rest of the day off?”

She shakes her head and puts on a teasingly stern look, “Nope! Back to work for me! I don't even remember heading to work this morning and it's Friday! So have fun kid! Sorry again about the headband.”

He waves as she leaves the room, “It’s really no problem Aunt Cass.”

Once he hears the door to the bakery close his face falls to it's now natural frown, he has no idea if she was completely fooled, the chances that she won't suspect anything are about 50/50 with her faith in him.

“UGH!” He takes his communicator out and presses it to his ear, “Baymax!”

A robotic voice sounds on the other end, “Yes, Hiro?”

“Update. Now.”

“I have followed the tunnel to the end, it seems it was an old sewage rout from the lab, the closest outlet that could be accessed by humans is in the middle of a major road before continuing into more recent tunnels. The next closest outlet is 10 minutes away from the first.”

Hiro frowned at this. That was far away, does it really have that bad of an access?

“I need a map of all the sewage systems in the city.” Walking quickly, the teenager makes it to his personal lab before flicking on a computer. “Come home Baymax, we have things to do.” He hears the soft confirmation before taking the com out of his ear.

Flicking his hair out of his face he starts to type out the searches he needs, maps of all electrical systems, sewage systems and finding an older map of the city in general and plugging in what he has into a program.

20 minutes of internet searching go by before Baymax finally arrives outside of the back door, getting him in through the garage doors and plugging him into the computer.

“I want every map of this city from the past 10 years downloaded into the 3D program, then I want updates and changes to the city marked in different colors based on year.”

Baymax nods before doing as he is told.

This is going to be a long process, even with his best computer and programs. He's going to have to get some better software, possibly create a new way to process large amounts of data and crating a live holographic feed of the city with minimal delay. Maybe he could-screeching his own thoughts to a halt, something he’s never had to do until now. Gripping his hair and shaking it hard he tries to focus on the task at hand. Headbands first, the rest after.

Pushing away from the first computer, he slides up to his laptop and starts going over his brainwave notes, he should be able to fix the problem soon if he is fast, a couple of hours at most. What was it, the middle of the day? He should have a solution by the time Aunt Cass finishes with work.

Staring at everything he slips lower in the chair to the point of him only resting on the top half of the seat, his neck supported painfully by the back and his stomach supporting the computer, he would probably regret this position later but he found it was helping him focus better. Snapping his fingers at the sudden idea he hops from the chair and sitting on it backwards before setting his laptop on the floor behind him then proceeds to put his legs up on the back rest and lays upside down.

“Heh, look at it from a new angle. Tadashi would be so proud.” He smiles at himself before sadness drowns him in waves.

He looks at his computer screen upside down but his vision blurs dramatically, “I… I don't understand. Why. Why am I crying?” he sniffles softly before letting the sorrow win, “Why did… why did Callahan just… let you die?”

Covering his eyes and rubbing them with his hand he tries to stop the tears from coming and all the emotion along with it. Trying to sit up he misjudges the movement making the chair roll to the side, in his slight moment of panic he over corrects himself and goes tumbling onto the floor with a thud. Grunting as he hits the ground, but as he goes to sit up, he changes his mind as frustration mixes into his feelings. Dropping back onto his side he curls up and hugs his arms, crying harder now as his emotions mix together painfully.

It takes a long time before he finally sits up to stare at his computer, the screen dim from being left idle. Scooting the foot or two over he picks it up and tries to distract himself from his break down. He had too much work to mourn the loss of his brother now.

Hiro immerses himself fully into his work for the next few hours, working with brainwave testing, searching his programs for better paths, finding and correcting any errors he finds. At some point he is informed that Baymax had finished with his end of the work and had switched over to the map when he hit too big of a wall to continue on the head bands.

He has only a few thoughts that don’t involve his current work and he tries to keep them as far away as possible. What would have happened if his brother hadn’t died? What would they be doing now?

By the time he hears Aunt Cass call his name, he’s finished the headbands. These ones are improved so they won’t cause any lasting damage on the wearers brain, to top it all off, since they worked much like his microbots, he can give commands without speaking out loud.

“Coming!” Standing quickly Hiro takes the headband with him as he goes to meet her.

She smiles at him when he comes into view, “There you are! I just finished up with work. How are you?”

He smiles back at her before lifting the headband so she can see it, “I fixed the headband. Been working on it since you left.”

Positively beaming his aunt pulls him into a tight hug, “Aw, that’s so sweet of you! You know you didn’t have to do that today.”

“It’s nothing really. You helped me a lot with this.” He pulls back from the hug to help her put it on.

“Anything for you hunny.” She leans forward, giving him easy access to her head.

He gets it behind her ears and puts his hands in his pockets when he is done, waiting to see what she thinks, “You don’t understand, you helped me find a ton of flaws in my design. You’ve helped more than you could ever remember.”

She walks over to the bathroom and looks in the mirror, she seems so happy with her gift, “Interesting wording there kiddo! But you’re probably right. I can’t remember most of this week! Can you believe it? It’s like life is passing me by as I don’t even know it!”

Hiro rips his hands out of his pockets at that, they don’t remember. They would never remember anything if he kept the headbands on all the time. Their lives would literally pass them by. How could he never have thought about that? How could he just destroy their lives this way? This was worse then what Callahan did! And he was stealing a teleportation device!

“Haha, yeah…” he stores the thought for now. He just needed to test it a little. He can figure out the details later. Putting his hand back in his pocket he flicks the switch and waits.

She’s quiet now, probably waiting for something. “Aunt Cass?”

“Yes, Hiro?” She responds immediately, no delay.

He walks in after her and sees she is still admiring her reflection, “Do you like it?”

She nods before replying, “I love it honey.”

Flicking the switch again he sees her jump a little while looking at him, “Wow you move fast. Didn’t even see you there.”

He asks his question again, “Do you like it?”

She smiles this time while nodding, “I love it honey.”

He smiles back but this time it’s sadly, she didn’t remember anything. He couldn’t do that to them. He can’t be that monster but he still needed them for his plan to work. So he’ll have to just alter the plan a little. Not much, but enough to consider that his friends still have lives, they still had things to do. Even if his own life is over and now he’s just picking up the pieces.


	12. Christmas Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I never posted my Christmas chapter on here?!

Hiro opens the garage doors to be greeted by at least a foot of snow if not more. Groaning loudly he lets his head fall back as he yells out to the white powder.

“WHY?!”

Dropping his arms from their raised position he leaves the door only open enough for him to slip under and walks back to his work table. Great. It had snowed sometime last night and he had no idea. There hadn’t been any snow this winter, with the warmer temperatures and all but mother nature must have decided that wasn’t ok and dumped a bucket on them.

Grabbing his phone he checks to see what the news had to say about it. Flipping through a few video’s on the local and world wide websites he finds out that it’s not just Sanfran Sokyo but a large part of the northern hemisphere. He drops his phone on the table and goes to flop over it gracelessly when he feels arms grab him around the middle and haul him upward.

“HIRO IT SNOWED!”

“AAAHHHHHH????!!!! TADASHI LET ME GO!”

The arms disappear from around him and he lands hard on his butt.

“OW!”

Clothing is then dropped on his head as laughter rings through the air, though a little muffled.

“HAHA! Come on Hiro! It hasn’t snowed in ages! Let’s go!” His brother is yelling at him.

Groaning Hiro quickly throws all of the clothing off and stares at the bundle on his arms.

“My winter clothes? We’re not seriously going out to play in that are we?” He turns to look at his brother while he speaks.

Said older brother is grinning like a madman, “Of course we are! With how warm it’s been we might not get another snow like this for ages! Come on let’s go have a little fun!”

Tadashi walks over to the garage doors and stares at the white flecks falling from the sky still, “Besides, I hear it supposed to pick up so much we won’t be able to see outside and we won’t be able to play in that so we have to do it now!”

Hiro contemplates that thought, it does sound like a fun idea to play I the snow but he had really wanted to work on his fighter bot today.

Making a swift decision he hops to his feet and starts throwing on all the clothes his brother had tossed on him earlier. He doesn’t see Tadashi’s triumphant smile.

Both of them finally dressed for the weather they run out of the garage doors into the alley side road where their feet crunch with ever step. Tadashi is in the middle of the road when a snowball comes into contact with his back. Whirling around the oldest sees his little brother making another one to throw at him with a wicked grin on his face.

“Oh it’s on now.” Leaning down himself he picks up a sizable ball, easily dodging his brothers before throwing one back.

Snow flies through the air in compact balls, some flying wild and others hitting their intended mark. After a few minutes Tadashi grabs as much snow as he can before charging toward Hiro like a truck. Screaming in both fear and joy he makes a break for it away from the taller boy but it’s futile as the large armfull of snow gets dumped on the boy, covering him in the white powder.

Tadashi is laughing too hard to notice the impish grin on the child’s face, he doesn’t see him coming as the wind gets knocked out of him as he falls into the snow on his back. Hiro quickly recovering starts to shovel snow onto his fallen sibling as fast as possible before planting a foot on his chest.

“I WIN!” His smile is brighter than the sun.

Toadashi lay defeated in the snow and dramatically goes along with his brothers antics, “OH NO! I have been defeated! The great Tadashi has fallen to the all mighty Hiro!”

Said child looks down at his brother and rolls his eyes, “The great Tadashi doesn’t need an ego boost such as that one. Maybe try for a girlfriend first.”

Brown eyes widen and Hiro finds himself falling into the snow with little grace.

“Careful, don't want a resurrection arc about the same bad guy again do we?”  
Hiro points his hand into the air making gestures as if Tadashi were in front of him, “Hey. I thought you were trying to get a date. Am I wrong?”

The taller one pokes his brothers side from where he lay, “And I recall someone saying that girlfriends were gross.”

Squirming away Hiro stands to get away from the finger looks around them, “Yeah, they are but you won’t stop talking about them.”

Tadashi sits up on his arms and watches his brother, “I do not.”

Hiro points down the road with a thumb, “Yeah, you do. Snow plows coming through. We should go home now.”

Nodding his head, he quickly gets out of the snow before snagging his brother in a light choke hold and rubs snow into his hair. “I don’t.”

Hiro makes some sort of squawking noise as he gets free of his brother. They playfully push each other all the way into the garage where Aunt Cass has just come down with hot coco.

~~~~~

The doctor watches the mystery teenager sleep for a few moments, they had taken a small scan of his brain a activity to see if there might be any actively. Much to everyone’s relief, the results came back saying that he was indeed thinking, or in this case, dreaming. He silently hopes that he will wake up soon so they may return the boy to their rightful family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally dropped the ball on this one. I know it's super late but on FF it wasn't late.


	13. Dark tunnels

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll be honest. It’s been so long since I’ve read this, that I can’t remember what I have and haven’t done yet. So please excuse any inconsistenties and let me know if I slip up.

Hiro stares at the diagrams on his holographic map. Colors interlacing each other showing their path. He was still trying to decide if he should use the sewage accesses to get in and out of the lab since it would be safer than trying to fly all the time.

Marking a path with a long pen in black he looks to Baymax, “Why can’t this rout be used? It’s a straight shot and the entrance is just down the street.”

The robot takes a moment before pointing to several spots, a holographic wall being placed in each spot, “These areas are blocked from passage, either by bars, walls or a collapsed ceilings.”

Nodding he takes that in. It looked like along the route he had chosen, there was a wall of bars and a collapsed ceiling.

“Alright, we need a pathway through the collapsed ceiling part and we can just make it so the part will swing open for us. No big deal.” Flicking them away from the map, he makes a mental note to get that done.

Looking down at his watch he clicks a pen with his thumb, “They should be at the docks within the hour.” He had given them a call and received no answer from any of them, which means the power of suggestion was strong.

Standing he grabs his suit and puts it on, he might end up changing a few things about it soon but for now it was fine. Jumping into Baymax he quickly sends his aunt a text. “Going out with friends for a bit. See you for lunch!”

“Ok Baymax, Let’s go to the super entrance and see if we can get there from here.”

Their trip isn’t long, it takes less than a few minutes before they arrive at their meeting spot after traveling through a series of sewers. Looking around he notices his team hanging around one of the less popular docking areas.

“There you guys are.” He waves to them.

Honey Lemon approaches him first, “Good morning Hiro! It’s good to see you.”

She smiles brightly at him and he tips his head to see her headband is on. Perfect.

“I’m doing alright. Let’s get this over with. Everyone follow me.”

They walk obediently, doing as he asked of them. Walking back to the sewer entrance he hops in, and one after the other then all climb down.

“Suit up. I found a safer way for us to travel, but we need to clear a few things.”

The group of friends quickly put on their gear, most of them just went around a corner for privacy except for Fred, who just climbed into his.

Waiting patiently he leans against the wall, he had the plans up on his visor. He was going to have Wasabi go to the metal bars and make a door for them to use and he was going to have Honey melt a hole in the barricade. Then he was going to have Gogo run the whole stretch of it and track how long it takes her and average that out to how they normally run. Timing is key after all.

Once they all stand in front of him he relays these exact orders to them. Handing Wasabi a drill and a few screws to make the door. They work quickly and effectively.

Crawling through the newly made hole he turns on a flash light and examines the path.

“This might not be as safe as I was hoping.”

Gogo leans down next to him, “What's wrong?”

Leaning back so she can see he speaks, “It’s damp. Meaning that water has been slowly leaking in from the ocean into this passageway and they didn’t use concrete to seal it. This could have been a huge hazard.”

Honey speaks next, “And it’s not now?”

“Oh, it’s a problem now but it won’t be. Do you have enough supplies to make concrete?” He glances at the girl.

She nods, “I can make at least ten balls of just concrete but after that I’ll need a refill of some of the chemicals.”

Hiro smiles at her, “Perfect. You go ahead and make those. Gogo, I’m going to have you disperse them through this pathway and then use your gear to smooth it out. I know it’ll slow you down but as long as it doesn’t harden we can get it off.”

The skater nods, “Ok, one problem with that plan of yours. Concrete takes ages to harden in the sun. Down here it’s wet and dark. It will take forever for it to work.”

Hiro puts out a hand, “You’re right. That’s why I’m going to have Fred use his fire to harden it all. Besides, it’s only a temporary solution until I can find a more permanent idea.”

Gogo takes the balls that were given to her and looks at the tunnel, “Hope this works.”

He waves her off and she shoots down the dark tunnel, the glow of her shoulder flashlight dimming as she goes.

Turning to the rest of his team he pulls the new headbands he had made from his belt, “I need to change out your headbands. The old ones are hurting you.”

Fred takes off his monster mask, “Do we take them off now?”

Hiro lifts the ones he made for them, “Give me a second. I’m going to turn off the old ones and put these ones on. Fred sit down.”

Fred flops onto his behind and waits patiently.

“Honey, I’m going to need you to bend over for me.”

She leans down to his level.

With a sigh, he pulls out the switch when a thought comes to mind, if he presses it then Gogo and Wasabi will be turned off too. Groaning he puts it away.

“Wait. I can’t do this till later. Dang it. Never mind you two, we’ll do it when we get to the base.”

They both nod their consent and stand back up to wait. Hopefully they would be back before long.

“Hey dude, so I was thinking. We should have a team name.” Fred's voice fills the space.

Hiro looks at him confused, “What?”

The taller male smiles wide, “Oh yeah, like a superhero team name! You know, when people see us together they’ll yell ‘Look! It’s the…..’ I haven’t come up with one yet but it would be totally awesome!”

Honey laughs next to them, “A team name huh. It sounds like fun! What do you think Hiro?”

The smaller boy scratches the back of his head, that wasn’t really in the plans but it wouldn’t hurt to entertain them.

“I guess you could think of one and I’ll let you know if I approve.”

They both cheer before talking animatedly about what their team name should be. He.. he should really just let them go. He could do this alone with Baymax, he didn’t NEED to have them here to help him. Wasabi soon joins them and is right on top with thinking up a team name. They had their own lives, he can’t just destroy theirs.

Rubbing his temples he sees Gogo climb out of the hole, dirty but safe.

“Well, I stretched it as thin as I dare down this thing. Let’s hope it’s enough. Fred, light it up!”

Said teen looks ecstatic as he throws the head back on and jumps to the entrance, making a huge show of getting ready before using his fire breath to heat up the small space.

They leave him to it as he stands in the opening for a minute before stopping, checking to see if it’s dry and walking in to continue the job.

Leaning back he listens as his team contemplated a name. They have a point, they would need some sort of name but not like this. Once this is over he’s going to let them go. They can keep their gear but he’s going to follow a different path than they are.

He’s staring at the wall when Fred’s voice rings in his ear, “Ok, I’m done. This tunnel is super long though. I’m going to race to the end.”

Gogo who has been cleaning cement off of her gear smiles, “Let’s see if you can beat me with a head start.” Before facing down the tunnel.

Hiro smiles as they go, yeah. He can’t keep them any longer than his next stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not dead.


End file.
